Day Sixteen: Learning Process

I’ve only been doing this for about two weeks, but I feel like I’ve already learned so much about the process of traveling.

For starters, I definitely think I worried too much about packing and overdid it, even with my pretty small packing list that I was super proud of. I wanted to make sure I had pretty much all of the “essentials,” but I really didn’t even need that much. There are so many things here that are easy to buy and pretty cheap in comparison to the United States. Plus, it’s kind of fun to find things I need here by myself because I get more acquainted with the city. Note to future self or other future long(ish) term travelers.

Also, plans don’t work out the way I think they will. “Disasters” happen all the time, and like half of traveling is just trying to figure out how to solve problems and still make the most of everything. Honestly though, I find this really rewarding because it’s such a huge learning experience. For instance, I’ve been trying to figure out a phone situation so that I have something that works for texting and GPS when I’m not on wifi since I’m out exploring and traveling a lot without wifi. It’s taken several days and trips to multiple phone stores where I can’t speak English, but I finally got the situation sorted today, and it felt SO rewarding that it all worked out. And even doing something as simple as trying to buy nail polish remover at the grocery store turned into an adventure because I don’t know where anything is in the market, and I didn’t know how to say “nail polish remover” in Spanish. It felt so rewarding to find it by the end. I love the challenges that travel and getting out of my comfort zone create, even if they’re small things like conquering the grocery store. I feel like when dealing with travel related things, I’m constantly thrown one thing after another. But, I’m learning to tackle them head on and make something out of it as opposed to getting discouraged and letting it ruin the experience. These things are all just life, especially when “normal” life is interrupted and two new worlds meet for the first time. It’s a beautiful chaos when they collide, and right now I wouldn’t want anything else.